Israeli venture capital firm Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP) has led a $50 million investment round in optical components company CyOptics. Part of the funding is traditional investment in the company, which has raised $204m since its inception; part of the funding is being used to buy out existing investors that want to exit.

Founded in 1999, CyOptics holds the combined knowledge and experience from a number of bubble-era start-ups and established components players. CyOptics acquired Triquint Semiconductor operations in 2005, and before that Triquint had acquired Agere Systems, which in turn was the spin-out of Lucent Technologies’ optical components division.

The firm’s portfolio today is a mix of volume- and high-end products, ranging from FTTx transceivers to photonic integrated circuits. CyOptics has both indium phosphide and silicon planar-lightwave circuit expertise, the latter from its acquisition of InPlane Photonics in 2007.

Although CyOptics ended financial year 2010 with more than $100 million in revenues, the company says it needs capital to grow the business as it ramps up production, and to invest in new product development – in the fast-changing optical components industry, maintaining R&D investment is vital.